BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream The Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Flames

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Photo: Debra Reid, Sparks Tribune

 

An Alternative National Anthem By Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) & Sharon Robinson © 1988 CBS Records, Inc.    Everybody knows the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.    Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost.    Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.    That's how it goes. Everybody knows.    Everybody knows that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows that the captain lied.    Everybody got this broken feeling Like their father or their dog just died.    Everybody talking to their pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates    And a long stem rose. Everybody knows.    Everybody knows that you love me, baby. Everybody knows you really do.    Everybody knows that you've been faithful, Give or take a time or two.    Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet    Without your clothes. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that it's now or never. Everybody knows that it's me or you.    And everybody knows that you live forever When you've done a line or two.    Everybody knows the deal is rotten Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton    For your ribbons and bows And everybody knows.    Everybody knows that the plague is coming. Everybody knows that it's moving fast.    Everybody knows that the naked man & woman — Just a shining artifact of the past.    Everybody knows the scene is dead But there's gonna be a meter on your bed    That will disclose What everybody knows.    And everybody knows that you're in trouble. Everybody knows what you've been through    From the bloody cross on top of Calvary To the beach at Malibu.    Everybody knows it's coming apart. Take one last look at this Sacred Heart    Before it blows. And everybody knows. Everybody knows. Everybody knows.    That's how it goes. Everybody knows.

I hope you understand I just had to go back to the island. — Leon Russell, 1942-2016

"The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have." — Kierkegaard

 

Fresh glances at last best chances
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-16-2022 / Expansions in blue

"We are at point unique in history where the old must learn from the young because the young are closest to the future" — Dr. Margaret Mead

Greatest Hits Dept. WE WON: BIG NEWS FROM THE NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION CONFAB IN GOMORRAH SOUTH —> BARBWIRE NOMINEE GUY RICHARDSON INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME ON FIRST BALLOT Barbwire nominee Dennis Myers elected to NPA Hall of Fame Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton next. Send endorsements Eee-yo-leven! Barbwire wins 11th Nevada Press Association award GOLD 2017-18 2018 First-Place Winners From the depths of despair to the den of iniquity & holy of holies "Excellent work. These are some of the most moving columns I've read." — NPA contest judge/9-29-2018 The Grasshopper and the Dragonfly 9-6-2017 Kicked off the Ledge 4-18-2017 NATIONAL NEWS FIRST-BREAK Back to the Future in Mississippi West Nevada 10-18-2017 Gold 2017 Don't ask Renown Med for marijuana to help your chemo 10-4-2016 We Don't Need No Education Toxic turf threat ignored 12-13-2016 Kate Smith & Lady Gaga 2-14-2017 Bronze 6-pack In the Uber-Nevada legislature, words can kill 4-28-2015 On artificial turf, don't breathe unless absolutely necessary (above) 11-24-2015 Leading questions, lead-headed leaders 1-19-2016 Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake 4-18-2013 2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon 5-30-2013 The politics of media ga-ga boosterism 3-20-2014 More statewide and national award winners We Don't Need No Education—> Neverending Barbwire Series 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries Barbwire.TV: 15-year overnight success Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008 The Barbwire's Greatest Hits BEATING LUSH RAMBO AT HIS OWN GAME: Highlights from radio days mp3 file The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 Tomorrow's news today —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential TOP SECRET— HushHush!

I saw that statement from the great anthropo-sociologist more than 50 years ago and never forgot it. (Alas, apparently both Google and Yahoo have.)

So when do you get smart enough to know you're stupid? How about yesterday, last week, last year, last decade? Last century, perhaps?

As Czar Donaldov and his cartoon poltroons prove every day, stupid sells very well and good salesmen know you never change a gimmick that's working. Keep them suckers sighing and buying.

Superstar Swedish climate champion Greta Thunberg calmly upstaged the now-defrocked president at the 2020 Davos, Switzerland, global warming summit after she was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year. (The sicko psycho even photoshopped his face over hers on the cover. Vanity of strumpetry, thy name is Trumpery.)

An old friend once noted that life is what happens while you were making other plans. I recently heard a corollary: Past 65, life is what happens between doctors' appointments.

In recent conversations, I've been asked where I find hope. The answer is easy. Just quote Dr. Mead.

We must learn from the young like tiny Greta and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-NY. They are closer the future and thus have more to lose.

They energize and make common cause with true advocates like Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA.

They thus light our way. Witness how folk-rock dinosaurs Neil Young and Joni Mitchell just kicked Spotify's greedy ass over allowing murderous COVID-19 disinformation to be spread like droppings in a barnyard. (BTW: Most music streaming is old songs.) Soul singer Indie Arie and podcaster Roxane Gay, both 40-somethings, followed suit.

We live in terrifying times with wars more common than not as we plunge headlong into the twin firepits of tribalism and greed.

The young terrify the rich and comfy. They are increasingly (gasp!) liberal and thus must be kept away from voting.

Listen to the kids, dammit. Hope lies therein.

ROPE A DOPE, I HOPE. The United States has never lost a conventional war although Korea ended in an uneasy tie. We have since lost Vietnam and Afghanistan to tireless guerrillas who bled us white of blood and treasure.

The late Iraqi dictator (and onetime U.S. ally) Saddam Hussein was the only guy stupid enough to risk fighting us in a conventional WW2-style ground war.

The U.S. military today remains the baddest buncha sonsabitches who ever got into a fight.

Czar Donaldov's buddy Bad Vlad seems intent on re-fighting WW2 over little ole Ukraine. Mr. Putin (properly pronounced "poo-teen" according to the late conservative wordsmith William Safire) has already propagandized his populace into thinking that the poor little KGB pirate is being victimized by (drum roll, please) U.S. aggression. Can't he even think of a new PR label?

I am the most anti-war guy you will ever meet and I think the bastard is bluffing.

If he invades, not only will Ukraine rue the day it ever gave up its nukes in exchange for some vague promise of protection from the west, but the Red Army will get its ass kicked.

As close as I can come to a reason for a Russian invasion is that Vlad wants to test how good our war machine is. That's a very dangerous pre-season game.

He's already by far the richest man in the world, according to vague intel reports, so like any corporate CEO, he wants to expand the company.

He controls the biggest land mass of any nation, so maybe conquest is the only thing left that rings his chimes.

Do not ask for whom the bell tolls.

WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN? "I think it is dangerous to confuse the idea of democracy with elections. Just because you have elections doesn't mean you are a democracy...I'm still taken aback at the extent of indoctrination and propaganda in the United States. It is as if people there are being reared in a sort of altered reality, like broiler chickens or pigs in a pen." — Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, Barbwire 9-12-2004.

I consider myself a free-range chicken, scared to death that my country is committing suicide by ignoring the plague because of infection by our plethora of stupid pols.

KILLER JOURNALISM. I just got another report that acquitted Kenosha, Wisconsin, double killer Kyle Rittenhouse (or at least someone claiming to be him) has again been seen shopping at local retail stores.

All tips appreciated. I've chased these kinds of guys before.

Sometimes, somebody with a physical resemblance will use someone else's notoriety to con the star-struck. I'd like to know if this guy actually buys anything or just struts.

HAPPY WHITE HISTORY MONTH? Stupid is as stupid does. Just got a report that a "teacher" at Bohach Elementary School in Sparks assigned a black kid to trace his family history back to the Mayflower.

I am thus somewhat critical of that educator's race theory.

RISKY BUSINESS. Local radio personality Don Darue is now syndicated to a passel of stations. In these parts, his Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot airs and streams weekly on NPR affiliate KUNR 88.7-fm Saturdays from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. PST.

Dondo's in the middle of his fundraising season, so help out with a little support at HootRadio.net/

Tell the birthday boy you heard about it on the Barbwire which is actually only a couple of years older than the Hoot. I need a beer.

A TOAST to my old friend (and long-ago occasional Tribune contributor) David Toll on the publication of his new book "David Toll's Nevada," reportedly selling like hotcakes on a cold Comstock morning.

Get 'em while they got 'em at NevadaBookstore.org/

MIKE UPDATE. By the time you read this, my Sparks union brother and RTCRide bus operator Mike Lansborough may be home from more than a week in the hospital.

He faces a long and painful recovery from heart surgery and remains sole support of his wife and son, Logan, 10, who has no lower legs due to a genetic flaw.

Friends launched a GoFundMe page <https://gofund.me/7eae2ed0>

Please go there and be generous. If you would like to help by check, make it payable to Michael Lansborough and send to his attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive, Suite 100, Reno NV 89512.

Thanks to all Barbwire readers to have rallied to help. Please join them in donating.  And tell your friends.

UPDATE: Less than 24 hours after I uploaded this column to the Tribune editor, I was notified that my dear friend of almost 50 years, David Toll, died last Sunday after a long illness at age 85. David constructed and launched NevadaLabor.com for me in 1996 when I didn't know a j-peg from a jaguar.

One of the last things David did was send $25 to Mike Lansborough's GoFundMe page. That's just one small example as to why he stands with the all-time great Nevadians and why he is now the newest resident of the Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniators Hall of Flames.

Requiescat in pace, frater mei.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

We're surrounded. Soulless, godless homotextuals are popping up everywhere trying to turn our kids into mindless preverts addicted to blood-and-guts video games featuring computer-generated (gasp!) scantily clad lezzie-amazon cartoon warrior women.

Oh, the humanity. Whatever happened to traditional family values?

They got packaged by political marketing consultants, that's what.

The court system is infested with homotextuals seeking word from God to divine the minds of James Madison and the founding fathers (which didn't include mothers).

It will certainly take divine revelation because things like jet aircraft and penicillin were unknown in the 18th Century and are thus not included in the U.S. Constitution.

The greatest homotextual of them all, Saint Antonino Scalia (a disgrace to Italian immigrant families like mine), spent his checkered judicial career the lazy way, Humpty Dumpty style.

"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less" said the world's most famous egghead.

"The question is," wondered Alice of Wonderland fame, "whether you CAN make words mean so many different things."

The one-celled organism would have none of it.

"The question is," the chicken embryo scowled, "which is to be master — that's all."

MORE IS LESS Homotextuals and Aboriginalists Run Wild By Emily Bazelon / NYTimes Magazine / 3-1-2020

So if words are to mean exactly what they meant circa 1776, then later legislation, precedent and history be damned. The only law book you need to decide cases is a dictionary, original texts preferably written on parchment or bamboo strips.

Nino convinced lots of less-convincing acolytes that all that matters when it comes to the law is whomever was playing Noah Webster back when powdered wigs were in style.

This is a very lazy way to earn your pay as a judge appointed for life. But it gives you plenty of time for hunting, playing golf or riding an occasional elephant (as Nino actually did with his opposite number, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who, alas, stayed too long at the fair.)

Alas and alack, elephants are messy, especially those possessed of foggy memories, fuzzy logic and fumbling philosophy.

We now have a federal court system quite possessed of frat boy logic.

"I like beer," said their Supreme Court idol, horny Justice Brett "The Brewski" Kavanaugh, who follows in the footsteps of Clarence Thomas, the court's foremost expert on pornography.

Mrs. Clarence recently got into the act, openly supporting the treasonous and murderous rioters of January 6, 2021, infamy. As I noted a few weeks ago, Clarence and Ginni are a match made in heaven — white supremacists both.

The court packing of recent years has largely been engineered by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Caligula. He has friends in high places.

"Mitch, I don't want to hurt your reputation, but we really are friends. And that is not an epiphany we're having here at the moment. You've always done exactly what you've said. You're a man of word — of your word, and you're a man of honor. Thank you for being my friend."

So who said that? Donald Trump? Nah. Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin perhaps? Nope.

The president hisself, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., at last week's National Prayer Breakfast. Alleluia.

White supremacist black-robed homotextuals have provided political and legal cover for prestigious poltroons and buff-toothed buffoons who imperil us all.

Gomorrah South Sheriff and wannabe Gov. Joe Lombardo just went bass ackwards on his order that all his deputies get vaxxed. Why? Heat from his Moonhowler Party primary opponents who insist that trying to keep people alive somehow proves he's a (gasp!) closet liberal.

Nevada's accidental former attorney general, Adam "Sheepballs" Laxalt, just hosted a true homotextual event with three Cow County sheriffs and former Washoe District Attorney Dick "Napolean" Gammick, whose greatest achievement was refusing to meet with the NAACP while in office.

Admirers included Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley, lord of the Alabaster Bastion who said he would not answer emergency calls from the local library because the librarian expressed sympathy for Black Lives Matter after the George Floyd murder. (Barbwire series, August 2020)

Two of the rural star-crossed yayhoos are members of a treasonous cult that believes in a twisted homotextual flouting of the U.S. Constitution which asserts that sheriffs have supreme power, that there is no authority over citizens higher than the county badgewarmer. (Joe Arpaio and Bull Connor, call headquarters right away.)

I wonder if they also supported Donald Trump who, by their interpretation, had no authority as president — but they still want his border wall. Like Washoe bus system management, these guys said they would not enforce any mask mandate no matter the law.

A proselytizer of this mindset once called the late Tribune hall of fame columnist Travus T. Hipp on the radio.

The dude alleged that no police officer has the authority to even write a parking ticket unless the guy who stayed overtime "specifically grants him the authority to do so."

That's anarchy, law of the jungle, rule by gun.

Actor Wesley Snipes fell under that thrall and ended up jailed for tax evasion.

Nevada's documented number one racist bailiwick fell in line against mask mandates and last week went one better.

They named their police and justice (?) complex after Czar Donaldov. Seig heil.

I will thus support a bill before the 2023 Nevada Legislature to change the name of Lyon County to Trumpistan.

On the first day of law class, I was taught that the law is a third legislation, a third history and a third precedent.

All these good ole boys really care about are their egos. Their spawn infect school board meetings and threaten the lives of honest election officials, both Republican and Democrat.

We are all worse for their intentionally enforced ignorance.

SHORT SHOTS. Foreign-owned Keolis Transit, the perpetrators of our collapsing local bus system, owe the Teamsters Union pension fund a quarter million plus interest from July 2019 thru June, 2021. Union auditors found thousands of violations and flat out cheating of workers. Smoking guns at NevadaLabor.com/

MIKE'S OK. "He is doing well and might be coming home this week," Teamsters Local 533 President Gary Watson reported about Michael Lansborough who survived major heart surgery last week. "His doctor said he is amazed how quick he is progressing," Watson added.

He is sole support of his wife and son, Logan, who has no lower legs due to a genetic flaw. In his wheelchair, the intrepid 10 year-old supported his dad on Teamsters Union picket lines during last summer's Hot August Strike. (Photos on the front page of NevadaLabor.com/)

A GoFundMe page set up by friends just broke $3k at $3,180 and they've raised the goal from $4k to $6k, which is great. Mike faces a rough recovery.

Here is the link <https://gofund.me/7eae2ed0> Be generous. If you would like to help by check, make it payable to Michael Lansborough and send to his attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive, Suite 100, Reno NV 89512.

Join me in donating. Please. And tell your friends.

UPDATE 7:22 p.m. PST 2-9-2022: Maybe he will go home next Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

Treasure the age of the republic's wane
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-2-2022 / Updated 2-4-2022 GMT / Expansions in blue

"Florida Republicans advance draconian bills banning abortion, discussions of sexuality and white racial ‘discomfort’ aiming to establish Florida as capital of Trumpistan" — The Guardian of London, UK, 1-31-2022

Greatest Hits Dept. WE WON: BIG NEWS FROM THE NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION CONFAB IN GOMORRAH SOUTH —> BARBWIRE NOMINEE GUY RICHARDSON INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME ON FIRST BALLOT Barbwire nominee Dennis Myers elected to NPA Hall of Fame Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton next. Send endorsements Eee-yo-leven! Barbwire wins 11th Nevada Press Association award GOLD 2017-18 2018 First-Place Winners From the depths of despair to the den of iniquity & holy of holies "Excellent work. These are some of the most moving columns I've read." — NPA contest judge/9-29-2018 The Grasshopper and the Dragonfly 9-6-2017 Kicked off the Ledge 4-18-2017 NATIONAL NEWS FIRST-BREAK Back to the Future in Mississippi West Nevada 10-18-2017 Gold 2017 Don't ask Renown Med for marijuana to help your chemo 10-4-2016 We Don't Need No Education Toxic turf threat ignored 12-13-2016 Kate Smith & Lady Gaga 2-14-2017 Bronze 6-pack In the Uber-Nevada legislature, words can kill 4-28-2015 On artificial turf, don't breathe unless absolutely necessary (above) 11-24-2015 Leading questions, lead-headed leaders 1-19-2016 Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake 4-18-2013 2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon 5-30-2013 The politics of media ga-ga boosterism 3-20-2014 More statewide and national award winners We Don't Need No Education—> Neverending Barbwire Series 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries Barbwire.TV: 15-year overnight success Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008 The Barbwire's Greatest Hits BEATING LUSH RAMBO AT HIS OWN GAME: Highlights from radio days mp3 file The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 Tomorrow's news today —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential TOP SECRET— HushHush!

Doomsaying is epidemic as fascism rises worldwide. US Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Caligula, was recently asked what he intends to do when he regains the senate majority next year. He promised to let America know next year.

In 2016, ex-Russian KGB agent Vladimir Putin, C-Caligula), broke the European Union and elected a commie-friendly American president. Internet disinformation is much cheaper than tanks. He bit off a major chunk of Ukraine, which foolishly gave up its nukes after the Cold War in exchange for flimsy promises of western protection.

Might as well believe two-faced S. Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-Janus, when he says he'll support a black supreme court nominee.

"This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy — that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed," Hitler propaganda boss Joseph Goebbels once said.

The playbook is easy.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship," Nazi leader Herman Goering once said.

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country," Goering noted.

Czar Donaldov said we were being attacked by brown foreign rapists. Instant president.

And so we carry on with business as usual as we treasure the remaining time in our democracy's decline.

NAMING NAMES. Last week, I promised the names of applicants for the still organizing Sparks Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board, 15 years in the making since us NAACP types got the city council to pass a resolution authorizing one in 2007. Here they are.

• A'Keia Sanders, a lead legal administration specialist, US Veterans Benefit Administration, Sparks resident for 21 months.
  
• Elvira Diaz, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada civil engagement coordinator, 15 years (and a great baker; we both serve on the Reno-Sparks NAACP executive committee)
  
• Jarell D. Green, counselor/coordinator, 18 years
  
• Melissa M. Nordeen, chief marketing officer, 3 (years or months, not specified)
  
• Michael K. Scherzer, chief technology officer, 5 months
  
• Roberto J. Castillo mortgage consultant, not noted
  
• Rose J. Meza, UNR outreach project coordinator, 22 years
  
• T. Tran, real estate broker, 32 years

Links to applications at NevadaLabor.com/ It will only be available online for a few weeks.

The Rail City's new Citizen Police Advisory Committee met at city hall for the first time on January 31. Report next week.

BOOK 'EM. "David Toll's NEVADA" is now available. His prize-winning Nevada writing is well worth perusal and purchase. It will soon be reviewed in the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly. Hie thee to nevadabookstore.org/

80 PERCENT OF SUCCESS IS SHOWING UP, as Woody Allen once calculated the math. Thanks to all those who showed up at United Parcel Service in Sparks last Thursday. The brown box behemoth is trying to cut the pay of its part-timers as much as $6.00 per hour for dangerous and physically rough labor. In the last three months of 2021, UPS made $2.9 Billion with a capital "B."

So why is unionization in the private sector continuing to drift downward (six per hundred workers, 6%) while the public sector has held steady for decades at 34 per 100 employees (34%) — and as a whopping two of every three Americans (68%) approve of labor unions? The answer is easy: labor laws stacked against private sector unions and corporations willing to perpetrate any abuse, legal or illegal, to stop workers from organizing. And the costs of hiring $1,000-per-hour union-busting thugs is fully tax deductible, thus underwritten by suckers like you and me. (See NYTimes 1-29-2022)

Speaking of union-busting blackguards, lack of COVID-19 safety measures is a major reason why the Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission's foreign owned bus contractor Keolis Transit can't get enough drivers. The system has been falling apart since Keolis took over in July, 2019, fully eight months before the plague hit. [RTC CONTACT INFO]

Local pols including Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson are at least paying attention. "We need to blow the thing up and…build a better system," Lawson said last month.

Some corporations other than UPS and Keolis Transit know that the age of the disposable worker is over.

SEND PRAYERS AND GOOD VIBES FOR MIKE. My Sparks union brother, RTCRide bus operator Michael Lansborough, goes under the knife in a day or two.

He is sole support of his wife and son, Logan, who has no lower legs due to a genetic flaw. In his wheelchair, the intrepid 10 year-old supported his dad on Teamsters Union picket lines during last summer's Hot August Strike. (Photos on the front page of NevadaLabor.com/)

A GoFundMe page set up by friends just broke $3k at $3,180 and they've raised the goal from $4k to $6k, which is great. Mike faces a rough recovery.

Here is the link <https://gofund.me/7eae2ed0> Be generous. If you would like to help by check, make it payable to Michael Lansborough and send to his attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive, Suite 100, Reno NV 89512.

Join me in donating. Please. And tell your friends

[UPDATE: Thursday, Feb. 3, p.m.: GREAT NEWS! Mike is out of surgery and doing OK. Stay tuned.]

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

I first saw an online post about Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse having moved to these parts. Ho hum, another Internet rumor.

Then last week came a tip from a reader saying someone identifying himself as Rittenhouse has been shopping big ticket items around town.

The teen who shot two men dead during riotous mayhem was acquitted of murder charges. Unlike the three crackers who executed black jogger Ahmed Arbery, gunny Rittenhouse had a defense fund that topped $2 million.

Perhaps he still has some left. Anyone having a Rittenhouse sighting, please contact me.

National news reports say that he has requested return of the 99-percent machine gun he used to kill two men. Not to worry. He can replace his firepower and a whole lot more just about anywhere in Nevada. He's old enough now that he won't even need to illegally employ a straw buyer to pass a background check. Or go to a Nevada gun show to be welcomed as a hero or in Groucho goggles to be anonymous. An eyewitness informed me that the guy saying he's the killer makes it very clear who he is but is trying to start over In Nevada. Red flag.

If it's him, so be it. If not, he won't be the first to skate on someone else's fame in a faraway small town. I've seen a few.

OUTBREAK OF REASON AT RAIL CITY HALL? Who'da thunk it?

I was mildly surprised when Sparks councilcritters recently started a version of a diversity commission (see below) which their predecessors passed on Jan. 22, 2007, then let drift for 15 years. (Former Reno-Sparks NAACP Presidents Lucille Adin and Dolores Feemster attended with me.)

I was shocked when Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson, who represents the city on the Regional Transportation Commission, said "We need to blow the thing up and…build a better system" at last Friday's RTC meeting.

He was talking about our collapsing mass transit system. I could not agree more and I've been beating that drum for 30 years.

Bus system mismanagement has its roots in a three-tiered structure built to bounce blame to somebody else. The five elected commissioners (two each from Reno and Washoe County, one from Sparks) sit atop the pyramid. Below them, a large RTC staff responsible for the bus system and a lot of road stuff.

Tier three is the for-profit foreign contractor hired at an exorbitant fee to mismanage the system. Tier four at the back of the bus are the passengers, drivers and support staff.

“We are subsidizing something that is failing,” Washoe County Commissioner Bob Lucey echoed. “Why are we continuing to chase a broken model?”

I never thought I'd say it, but he reminds me of me. I've been chronicling RTC mass transit abuses since the 1990s, including four strikes and a few close calls.

RTC Executive (?) Director (?) Bill Thomas fell back on the same old excuses. He is not responsible for the cruel winds of fate that have sore abused his psyche while scoring $220,000 a year plus cushy benefits. See NevadaLabor.com for how he spawned a COVID-19 superspreader.

Bob Conrad at ThisIsReno.com reported that "RTC has seen a drop of about 10,000 riders per day since the start of the pandemic."

Actually, it's worse. Ridership nosedived from the first day the current contractor, France-based Keolis Transit, took over on July 1, 2019, fully eight months before the pandemic.

For 30-plus years of chapter and verse about this government boondoggle, see NevadaLabor.com/

OOPS DEPT. Last week, I printed an item about open seats on the newly formed Sparks Police Citizens Advisory Committee. SPD Chief Chris Crawforth has since let me know that I had been misinformed and that there are no slots available.

The first meeting of the Rail City panel is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31 at Sparks City Hall. It will not be livestreamed.

"We are utilizing PD personnel to manage the meeting and it is all new to them. We have it on the radar to implement live stream" on April 4, the chief noted.

COURTHOUSE BEAT. Stormy Daniels and Sarah Palin are both heading for court in the Big Apple. In case you've forgotten, one is a faithless, shameless opportunistic hussy and the other is a porn star. More next week.

SECESSIONIST SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK. Republican operatives in Gomorrah South are threatening an initiative to allow small communities to secede from larger school districts. Civics optional, book burning mandatory.

Before anyone starts singing that siren song, I refer you to my extensive coverage of Lyon County's racist small town Yerington High School. Details at NevadaLabor.com/

NEWS ABOUT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE, as it's known in Reno, or the Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board in Sparks.

"The Mayor’s and Councilmembers’ appointments to the EIAB will be included on an agenda for one of the Council’s regular meetings but the date has not been set," stated Assistant City Manager Alyson McCormick. I have received info on the Sparks applicants and will publish them next week.

Pre-pandemic, Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve tried to start a countywide human rights commission. Washoe County was not interested and told her they'd watch Reno. Sparks simply said "we're broke." So what else is new?

I can't assert cause and effect, but the profile that I and former Reno-Sparks NAACP President Lonnie Feemster raised about the Sparks PD killing of suicidal 18 year-old Miciah Lee may well have played a role in thawing city hall. That, and getting a responsive police chief.

Look out, guys. Some moonhowlers may accuse the all-Republican mayor and council of (gasp!) liberalism.

SPARKS FAMILY UPDATE. The GoFundMe campaign to help local bus operator Michael Lansborough and his family has risen to $2,870 since last week's paper. The announced goal is $4,000 but that remains quite modest when lost work and post-op recovery time are factored in.

My Sparks union brother faces mega-major surgery next week. He is sole support of his wife and son, Logan, who has no lower legs due to a genetic flaw. In his wheelchair, the intrepid 10 year-old supported his dad on Teamsters Union picket lines during last summer's Hot August Strike. (Photos on the front page of NevadaLabor.com/)

Here is the link <https://gofund.me/7eae2ed0> Be generous. If you would like to help by check, make it payable to Michael Lansborough and send to his attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive, Suite 100, Reno NV 89512.

Join me in donating. Please. And tell your friends.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Próspero año y felicidad

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

But I will. Democrats made a mistake supporting Joseph Biden over Bernie Sanders.

I forgave Mr. Biden for Clarence Thomas and a host of other sellouts to the corporate good ole boy system and voted for the president anyway —  as did Sen. Sanders.

In recent decades, the bedrock of Democratic strength has always been unions, African Americans and women. Both Barack Obama and now Mr. Biden have failed to move long-sought legislation to level the union election playing field which has resulted in the lowest union numbers among first-world nations.

Organized labor has become co-dependent. We're so used to getting abused by our friends that the only excuse for sticking around is "without us, he wouldn't have anybody like us to beat up."

Is there a Committee to Aid Abused Unions somewhere?

Over MLK weekend, media veritably dripped with bile over Mr. Biden's shilly-shallying, dithering and dilatory dilly-dallying over voting rights while the party of Godhead Trump the Ultimate subverted democracy in dozens of states.

How bad has it gotten? As you have already heard, the conventional wisdom holds that the Trump cult will sweep this fall, re-taking the House and Senate. Combined with their dominance of a royalist supreme court, Biden may as well not show up for work a year from now.

Without naming names, I've heard the same dark warnings from the mouths of professional Donkey Party operatives.

FREE TICKETS ON THE TITANIC. America seems hellbent on suicide both at the ballot box and the bloodstream. I saw a META (aka Facebook) post from a retired union guy who bought into the idea to stop fighting and learn to love the plague. Go get it, get over it and go on with your life as usual.

No photo accompanied the post so I couldn't tell if his head showed evidence of having been buried in the sand or other dark dirty places. The comment was in the right place. "Meta" is Hebrew for "death."

Conspiracy lovers are apparently again pimping the sci-fi fantasy that John F. Kennedy, Jr., will soon return to right the ship of state.

I think some mischievous teenager, perhaps in Russia, came up with that one during a game of how low can you go.

"Hey, Tovarich. I'm go to see just how stupid are American. Let's see if who believe a Kennedy back from grave."

"Give it a try, Ivanov. They already believe that about their Jesus and E.T., the Extra Terrestrial. How about a side bet on how many Google returns we'll get? Czar Vladimir will be so pleased by our work."

So the joke gets quickly transmuted into reality by the Internet gullible.

Alas and alack, thereinbelow lies a gnawing hunger for true inspirational leadership, the kind JFK the Elder embodied. Millions of Americans are so desperate that they have even embraced an anti-JFK who trashed everything Kennedy stood for.

Bernie has been the only unyielding leader who fit the bill in recent years, motivating the young and disgruntled, but the corporate system quashed him.

I will brook no accusation of being personally disgruntled. I have never been gruntled in my life, drunk or sober.

ENGRAVE ON YOUR PSYCHE: "This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy — that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed." — Hitler propaganda boss Joseph Goebbels.

BACK TO REALITY. At last week's Reno-Sparks NAACP meeting, I was informed that the City of Sparks is forming an Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board. Excellent.

Former President Lucille Adin and I find this welcome news, as the council passed a resolution to form a diversity commission on Jan. 22, 2007, but it never happened. (We were in attendance at Sparks City Hall along with late President Dolores Feemster.)

I was further informed that the application period to apply has closed. As I did with the citizen police advisory committee, I have asked for the names and applications of the candidates and will publish them as before. Watch the Trib or NevadaLabor.com for info about the council appointment timeline.

I also learned that the police committee has had several departures although it has yet to meet due to a long training period.

The first meeting of the Rail City panel is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Monday Jan. 31 at Sparks City Hall. I don't know if it will be livestreamed.

The City of Reno's Human Rights Commission is once again showing signs of life. Perhaps local governments will start talking with each other. That might be pro-gruntling.

Stay tuned.

KEEP IT UP. The GoFundMe campaign to help local bus operator Michael Lansborough and his family has risen to $2,565 since last week's paper. The announced goal is $4,000 but that remains quite modest.
My Sparks union brother faces mega-major surgery soon. He is sole support of his wife and son, Logan, who has no lower legs due to a genetic flaw. In his wheelchair, the intrepid 10 year-old supported his dad on Teamsters Union picket lines during last summer's Hot August Strike. (Photos on the front page of NevadaLabor.com/)

Here is the link <https://gofund.me/7eae2ed0> Be generous. If you would like to help by check, make it payable to Michael Lansborough and send to his attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive, Suite 100, Reno NV 89512.

Join me in donating. Please. And tell your friends.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Próspero año y felicidad

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

"This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy — that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed." — Hitler propaganda boss Joseph Goebbels

Greatest Hits Dept. WE WON: BIG NEWS FROM THE NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION CONFAB IN GOMORRAH SOUTH —> BARBWIRE NOMINEE GUY RICHARDSON INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME ON FIRST BALLOT Barbwire nominee Dennis Myers elected to NPA Hall of Fame Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton next. Send endorsements Eee-yo-leven! Barbwire wins 11th Nevada Press Association award GOLD 2017-18 2018 First-Place Winners From the depths of despair to the den of iniquity & holy of holies "Excellent work. These are some of the most moving columns I've read." — NPA contest judge/9-29-2018 The Grasshopper and the Dragonfly 9-6-2017 Kicked off the Ledge 4-18-2017 NATIONAL NEWS FIRST-BREAK Back to the Future in Mississippi West Nevada 10-18-2017 Gold 2017 Don't ask Renown Med for marijuana to help your chemo 10-4-2016 We Don't Need No Education Toxic turf threat ignored 12-13-2016 Kate Smith & Lady Gaga 2-14-2017 Bronze 6-pack In the Uber-Nevada legislature, words can kill 4-28-2015 On artificial turf, don't breathe unless absolutely necessary (above) 11-24-2015 Leading questions, lead-headed leaders 1-19-2016 Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake 4-18-2013 2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon 5-30-2013 The politics of media ga-ga boosterism 3-20-2014 More statewide and national award winners We Don't Need No Education—> Neverending Barbwire Series 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries Barbwire.TV: 15-year overnight success Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008 The Barbwire's Greatest Hits BEATING LUSH RAMBO AT HIS OWN GAME: Highlights from radio days mp3 file The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 Tomorrow's news today —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential TOP SECRET— HushHush!

Herr Goebbels would recognize Trump's Start the Steal, Part Deux.

As I mentioned last week, Barbwire predixions often come true, too often to my regret.

On Feb. 16, 2016, with 17 candidates in the Republican presidential primary, I moved a piece entitled "History foreshadows a GOP November win." Lots of my friends didn't like my projection based on well-founded historical research by minds far greater than mine.

Later, I published this quote from an LA Times cartoon by David Horsey: "As democracy is perfected, the office of the president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete moron." — H.L. Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun, 7-26-1920.

Republican Warren G. Harding won that November, creating the most corrupt presidency until that of Czar Donaldov. Had he not died of a heart attack, Harding would have become the first president impeached, convicted and removed due to the infamous Teapot Dome oilfield leasing scandal.

On the good side, back in February 2006, I also noted that the cycles of history forecast a Democratic win in 2020. Which also came to pass for all Americans, including the burgeoning Trump Evangelical Church of God in Donald.

This week, a longtime Barbwire reader forwarded this: "If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence,” that war would not be waged between regional factions, but “between patriotism and intelligence on one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”  (Snopes.com)

That purportedly came from our 18th President (1869-1877), Hiram Ulysses (aka Ulysses Simpson aka US) Grant. Is it correct?

Jawohl. Snopes.com fact checkers verified it from a Grant speech at Des Moines, Iowa, on Sept. 29, 1875. (Link with this column's expanded web edition at NevadaLabor.com/)

SIDNEY POITIER RISKED HIS LIFE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS. On August 4, 2020, Jerry Mitchell of the Center for Investigative Reporting wrote "On this day in 1964, the same day the FBI found the bodies of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andy Goodman and Mickey Schwerner, singer Harry Belafonte heard that the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee needed at least $50,000 to survive. His friend and fellow activist Sidney Poitier delivered $70,000 raised in the Mississippi Delta. When they landed at the Greenwood airport after dark, a pickup filled with white men pursued and rammed them. The two performers made it to their destination, delivering the money to keep Freedom Summer going.

" 'We knew if we never did another thing together,' Belafonte recalled, 'this was to be forever cherished.' "

The Dallas Morning News picked up the Poitier/Belafonte story so it appears credible and has been lighting up anti-social media. Speaking of which...

TAKE MY WIFE, PLEASE! Meta (as in "I never META white person I didn't like"), fka  Facebook, is rife with stories that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni, posted a Tweet endorsing the treasonous Jan. 6, 2021 attempt to crown Trump king.

"God bless each of you!" she effused. Snopes.com verified the story. See NevadaLabor.com/

I regret that I must remind readers that Justice Thomas is black, his wife is white.

Given his record and her support of the murderous MAGA rioters, I am on firm ground when I say they are a match made in heaven: both white supremacists.

(Columniator's note: "meta" in Hebrew means "death.")

MORE UNENLIGHTENED MAGAMANIACS. In last week's Nevada Republican gubernatorial candidate debate, one guy actually said that government should task law enforcement to tax homeless panhandlers.

Others typified Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau's definition of the oxymoronic GOP PR spin "compassionate conservatism."

"Compassionate" means "we care," where "conservatism" means "you're on your own."

Wacko former Democrat John Lee actually said something borderline sensible. The North Las Vegas Mayor trashed homeless people, then advocated for increased mental health care. By doing so, he agreed with the GOP's boogeyman, Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who recently lamented how mental health care in Nevada has been underfunded "for decades."

As someone who's been in that fight since the 1970s, both are correct. But just words.

CRACKERJACK: GEORGIA 33, 'BAMA 18. A Blue State collegiate football champion at last.

GHOST OF GUINIERE. Last week came news of the death at 71 of Harvard law professor Lani Guiniere. Bill and Hillary threw her under the boss when GOP moonhowlers trashed and smeared her as a "quota queen" when Friendly President Clinton nominated her to become chief deputy attorney general for civil rights in 1993.

She had proposed ideas to make voting more fair, like open primaries and ranked-choice voting. The latter idea just won a round in Carson District Court, opposed by (drum roll, please...) Democratic Party interests.

Can't blame them too much. Our last two legislatures have been historic in American history: Majority female. We're on a good trajectory despite ourselves.

The state teachers' union is also in court opposing its own initiative petitions to raise mining and major casino taxes. (They called the petitions legislative bargaining chips.)

To rewrite a cliché, if Lani Guiniere and State Sen. Joe Neal, D-N. Las Vegas, were alive, they'd be turning over in their graves.

THANKS FOR THE HELP. The GoFundMe campaign campaign to help local bus operator Michael Lansborough and his family has gone from $1,400 to $2,225 since last week's paper. The announced goal is $4,000 but that's quite modest.

My Sparks union brother faces mega-major surgery in a couple of weeks. He is sole support of his wife and son, Logan, who has no lower legs due to a genetic flaw. The stalwart 10 year-old was ubiquitous in his wheelchair supporting his father on Teamsters Union picket lines during last summer's Hot August Strike. (Photos on the front page of NevadaLabor.com/)

Here is the link <https://gofund.me/7eae2ed0> Be generous. If you would like to help by check, make it payable to Michael Lansborough and send to his attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive, Suite 100, Reno NV 89512.

Join me in donating. Please.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede

Próspero año y felicidad

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>